Flames
by SaraJo Lynn
Summary: Sarah's week goes from bad to worse. Is there any hope that things will get better? *ON HOLD*
1. Changes

Author's Note: For those of you who may be waiting for me to finish Coming Home, I have not forgotten about it. I'm kind of stuck right now, but as soon as I get unstuck, I'll finish it. But until then, here's something to pass the time.

****

Flames

Sarah sat staring out the window of her apartment, thinking about where her life was headed. At 24, she was still single and didn't have a prospect in sight. Of course there were plenty of guys around that she could date, a few of them that she had, but none of them were ever anything serious. For all she knew, she was doomed to be single for the rest of her life.

After graduating from high school, Sarah had left home in search of fame and fortune, hoping to follow in her mother's footsteps. Sarah figured getting hired shouldn't be that hard because of who her mother was. She figured her mother would pull a few strings to help Sarah get started. She thought back to the last conversation she had with her mother.

Sarah had been heartbroken when the director of the show had told her that she had absolutely no talent.

"You know, Sarah," he said, "I had expected more from the daughter of Linda Williams. You may have inherited her beauty, but I can also assure you that you did not inherit her acting talent."

Sarah had been crushed especially when she walked out into the lobby to head back to her small apartment. That's when she saw her mother.

"Mom?" Sarah asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"My agent was here to scout out new talent and he suggested I come along," Linda said as she looked to the floor. "I was very shocked to see you up on stage. I didn't realize that you were trying out today. Had I known..."

"Had you known what?" Sarah asked.

"Had I known how your performance would have been, I would not have come. I hate to say this, Sarah, because you're my own daughter, but your performance today embarrassed me in front of my agent. When he heard your name and realized you were my daughter, he had high hopes. But when you started in, he was taken aback by your lack of talent. As was I."

Sarah looked at her mother in disbelief. She couldn't believe she was hearing this. Could her day possibly get any worse?

"I embarrassed you?" Sarah almost screamed. "I'm your daughter and all you can say is that I embarrassed you? Not even a word of encouragement. Not even a 'hang in there, things will get better'. Not even an 'I missed you'. No, I guess that would be asking too much from the great Linda Williams. Or do you even still use that last name, seeing as how you ran out on the man and daughter who bear that name."

"Sarah, please," Linda said. "Let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain," Sarah said. "You're too worried about your own career to worry about your daughter's feelings. But why does that not surprise me? You didn't care when you left all those years ago, why should anything be any different now. As a matter of fact, I don't even know why I bother to call you Mom anymore. You certainly haven't been one to me. Come to think of it, Karen has been more of a mom than you'll ever be."

With that, Sarah turned and ran out of the building and to her car. There was only one place left for her to go now. She had to get home to family; back to her parents, the parents that were always there, and back to her brother.

Sarah sighed as she shook her head to get rid of the memories. She had headed back home that night and sat up all night pouring out the entire story to Karen. Sarah told Karen everything her mother had said to her and for the first time was able to release all the emotions she had held inside for so long. Karen had sat next to Sarah on the couch and held Sarah to her and cried along with her. Then Karen told Sarah her story. Sarah was shocked to hear that Karen knew exactly how she was feeling. Her mother had been killed when Karen was only about 4 years old. She had missed her mother terribly. Then her father had gotten remarried and Karen had hated her stepmother. Then one day, Karen's heart was broken. She didn't have her mother there to talk to and so she finally confided in her stepmother. From that day on, Karen had called her Mom and they became the best of friends.

"Sarah," Karen said, "I know we have had our differences, but I do know how you feel. And if you want to, you can call me Mom anytime."

Sarah smiled for the first time that day. 

"Thank you, Karen, I mean, Mom," Sarah said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "That means more to me than you'll ever know."

Since then, Sarah and Karen had gotten along quite well. Her father noticed the change but didn't say anything. He was just happy they were getting along. Sarah smiled at the memory of that night. She had finally found her real Mom. Sarah was shaken out of her thoughts at the sound of sirens going off of the streets below.

~I wonder what's going on~ she thought to herself. She looked down at the street below and saw two fire trucks racing through the street. Sarah looked at the sky and, even though it was dark, she could make out thick black smoke curling through the air. Always one to love adventure, Sarah grabbed her jacket and headed for the door to see what was going on.

____________________

EARLIER THAT DAY

"Toby!" Karen yelled from the kitchen. "Telephone!"

Toby raced in from the family room and picked up the phone. He walked around the corner to try and be out of earshot as much as possible. He loved his mother, but there were some things she just wouldn't understand when it came to 10 year old boys. A minute later, Toby peeked his head back around the corner.

"Hey, Mom?" Toby asked. "Peter wants to know if I can go over to his house and play. His mom said it was okay. Can I?"

"I don't know," Karen said.

"What, Peter?" Toby asked the person on the other end of the phone. "Hold on. Mom, Peter says his parents are going to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and I can go with them. They also said I could stay all night."

"Let me talk to Peter's mother just to make sure this is really okay with her," Karen said. She picked up the phone and cleared everything with Peter's mother. "Everything is set. Go ahead and go change your clothes and I'll drive you down."

Toby raced up the steps to pack his stuff and change his clothes. Ever since they had moved to the other side of town, he hadn't had the chance to stay all night at Peter's. Peter was his best friend. Ten minutes later, Toby came bounding down the steps and went out to the car where his Mom was waiting.

____________________

Sarah drove carefully through the streets. It was dark and they weren't very well lit. Suddenly, Sarah realized the direction the fire trucks were headed.

~They're headed towards Mom and Dads~ Sarah thought. ~Please God, let them be okay.~

Sarah's body went numb when she saw the scene in front of her. Her parents house was engulfed in flames. Sarah quickly swerved over to the curb and parked the car. She jumped out and ran towards her parents house. She couldn't believe this was happening. A police officer stopped her as she got to the yard.

"You'll need to stand back, Miss," the officer said. "Give them room to work."

"You don't understand," Sarah said fighting back tears. "This is my parents home."

The police officer looked at her sadly. Sarah saw the look in his eyes.

"What?" Sarah asked. "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"They just wheeled your parents out of the house a moment ago. It appears they were asleep when the fire started and didn't get out in time. I'm sorry."

"No!" Sarah screamed. She fell to the ground sobbing. "Toby. Oh my goodness. Sir? Tell me, did they find my brother?"

"As far as they can tell, your parents were the only people in the house."

Sarah sat down on the ground and thought to herself. Toby wasn't in the house. That was good. But where was he? Sarah raced to the neighbors house to use their phone. She called the only place she knew he could be.

"Hello?" the person on the other end said. Sarah could tell that she had woken them up.

"Mrs. Anderson," Sarah said, "I'm so sorry to bother you. This is Sarah, Toby's sister. Tell me, please, is my brother there?"

"Yes, Sarah," she answered. "Toby is here. Why? Is something wrong?"

"I'm afraid something is terribly wrong," Sarah said. She told Mrs. Anderson the whole story. Mrs. Anderson said she would go get Toby up and bring him over to her apartment.

"I'm not at my apartment, Mrs. Anderson. I'm at the house. Just bring him over here. I know Toby. He's not going to believe unless he sees it."

Sarah hung up the phone and thanked the neighbors for letting her use their phone so late at night. She walked back outside to find out why the fire had started. Sarah was talking to a policeman when the fire chief walked up to her.

"Excuse me, Miss," the fireman said. "I couldn't help but overhear that you said your parents lived here. I just wanted to come over and give you my best wishes."

The fire had been put out now and the only thing left was the smoldering ashes of what used to be her parents house.

"Is it okay for me to just go look?" Sarah asked. "I know that everything was destroyed, but I just want to make sure."

"As long as your careful, it should be okay."

Sarah started to walk towards the house when she heard a car door slam behind her.

"Sarah!" Toby yelled as he raced towards her.

Sarah dropped to her knees as Toby reached her and they sat on the ground crying. 

"Sarah," Toby said, "are they really gone?"

"Yes, Toby. I'm afraid they're really gone."

"What's gonna happen to me?" Toby asked looking up at Sarah.

"You'll come live with me," Sarah said.

"And nobody will try to take me away from you?" Toby asked.

"Even if they tried, I wouldn't let them take you," Sarah said. "Do you want to come help me look to see if anything was left intact?"

Toby nodded his head and grabbed Sarah's hand as they walked up to what was left of their parents home. Toby went off to look at the left while Sarah ventured to the right. She stopped when she saw something gold reflecting in the streetlight. She walked over to where she had seen the reflection and bent down to uncover it. Her mouth dropped open as she picked up a red book with gold letters on the front. She read the word on the cover as she ran her fingers over the book. ~Labyrinth~ She turned the book over in her hand and saw that it appeared to have been unharmed. Sarah shoved the book in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Toby!" Sarah called to her brother. "Let's go. I don't think we're going to find anything. I think we both need some rest."

Toby followed Sarah back to her car. They sat in silence the entire drive back to Sarah's apartment. When Toby walked in to Sarah's apartment, he went straight to the room he always stayed in when he went to Sarah's. Sarah followed him into the room.

"I know it's going to be hard, Toby," Sarah said as she brushed his hair from his eyes. "It's going to be hard for both of us. But just remember that we still have each other and we're going to make it through this. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Sarah."

Sarah walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. She walked into her room and slowly pulled her book out of her back pocket.

~How could this have stayed intact?~ Sarah thought to herself. She knew there was a reason, but she was too exhausted to try and figure it out tonight. The next few days were going to be tiring. Sarah changed into her pajamas and laid the book on her dresser. Sarah climbed in bed and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

____________________

Sarah rolled over as the sun came through window. Her arm fell across a body and her eyes flew open. She looked and saw Toby laying next to her. Sarah sighed and laid back down. She wasn't used to having someone in her bed and it had scared her. She had dreamed that everything that happened the day before wasn't real, but when she saw Toby next to her in bed, she knew that it actually had happened. Sarah and Toby's parents were gone. Sarah looked at her clock.

~8 a.m.~ Sarah thought to herself. ~Nobody should be awake this early on a Saturday. But since I'm awake...~

Sarah quietly got up so that she wouldn't disturb Toby. She glanced at the book laying on her dresser as she walked by. She still couldn't understand why that book had survived the fire. Sarah shook her head in confusion. She grabbed her robe and headed to the kitchen to find something to eat. The sight she saw in her kitchen nearly made her heart stop. She stared at the back of the person that was standing in her kitchen. Wild, blonde hair hit the man's shoulder and a loose fitting shirt was accompanied by skin tight pants and black boots. Jareth. He was here in her kitchen. He must have realized she was in the room because he slowly began to turn around.

"Good morning, Sarah," Jareth said.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked. She certainly didn't need all this on top of everything that had happened the day before.

"I came to let you know that I'm here for you and Toby, should you ever need me."

Sarah was shocked. That was the last thing she had expected to hear out of his mouth. This was certainly a change from the Jareth she had met 9 years ago. 

"Can you answer something for me, Jareth?"

"I can try," Jareth answered, although Sarah had a feeling that Jareth already knew what she was going to ask.

"Why did the book survive the fire? When Toby and I were rummaging around to see if anything had survived, I found my book. How is it possible?"

"The book survived to serve as a reminder," Jareth told her.

"A reminder?"

"Yes. A reminder that I and all the inhabitants of the Underground are here for you."

For the second time that morning, Sarah was shocked at the way Jareth was acting. What had happened to the evil king she had met all those years ago.

I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations of me.

What had he meant when he said that? Was this the real Jareth standing before her now? Had he really only acted that way because of the story?

"Thank you," Sarah said. "That means more to me than you can ever know. I promise, should Toby and I ever need anything, you'll be the first person we call."

Jareth smiled. That was the second time that she had ever seen him with a genuine smile on his face. The other had been in the ballroom.

"Well, I must be going," Jareth said. "I have a kingdom to keep an eye on." He walked over to Sarah and laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you again," Sarah said. "I really appreciate it." 

Jareth stepped away from Sarah and disappeared. 

____________________

Sarah slowly opened her eyes. It took a minute for her to realize where she was. She looked at her clock and then realized that Toby was not in her bed.

~10:00.~ Sarah thought to herself. ~It was all a dream. It's just Toby and I and there's nobody here to help us through this.~

Sarah realized how alone she and Toby were. Both sets of grandparents had died a few years ago. Sarah's dad had a brother, but Sarah hadn't seen him since she was 8 and Toby had never met him. It was just her and Toby. They were alone with nobody to help them sort out what all needed to be done.

"How are we going to get through this?" Sarah said aloud to no one in particular. "I can't raise Toby all by myself. I need help."

Slowly, Sarah made her way over to her mirror. For the first time in nine years, Sarah called for her friends.

"Hoggle? Ludo? Sir Didymus? I need you!" Sarah said into the mirror. Sarah felt a big hand on her shoulder and turned around into a large, furry thing.

"Ludo!" Sarah said. She looked and saw that Hoggle and Sir Didymus were also in her room. She wrapped her arms around Ludo and squeezed him tight. Then she did the same with Sir Didymus and Hoggle. Then she started crying.

"Sarah?" Hoggle asked. "Why are you calling after so long?"

"Oh, Hoggle," Sarah said. "I'm sorry that I didn't call you guys after that night. I guess I grew up after that. But now I'm all alone and I didn't know where else to turn."

Ludo clumsily tried to pat Sarah on the shoulder. It wasn't a very easy task considering his hands were the size of her head.

"We understand that, fair maiden," Sir Didymus said. "But why doest thou call us if you have grown up?"

"It's awful," Sarah said. "Toby and I are all alone. Our parents died yesterday. Toby's the only family I have left and I don't know what to do!"

"Sawah sad," Ludo said.

"Yes, Ludo. I am sad. And I'm scared. I've never been this scared in my life."

"Don't worry, Sarah," Hoggle said. "We're only a call away if you need us."

"Thanks. It helps knowing I have friends that can help me through this."

Sarah's three friends walked over to her mirror. Ludo and Sir Didymus stepped through but Hoggle stopped and turned.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sarah?"

"I'm better now knowing that I have the three of you."

Hoggle turned and stepped through the mirror. When his foot hit solid ground he turned once more to look at Sarah. She had gone back to her bed and laid there crying.

"I don't know how to help you, Sarah. All I can do is tell the one person who can. Please forgive me for going to him, but it's the only choice I have."

Hoggle turned and stared at the room around him. He knew that Sarah needed support, but Hoggle didn't know how to give it to her. Sarah needed a person with her, not a dwarf. Who better to get than the person who loved Sarah more than life itself? With that thought in mind, Hoggle left his home and started towards the castle. He had to find Jareth.

____________________

The throne room was swarming with goblins. In the middle of all this chaos, Jareth sat in his throne. He put his hand up to his head to try and block the noise that the goblins were making, but it was no use.

"Get out!" Jareth yelled. "Get out now and don't come back in to this castle until you have my permission!"

The goblins all stopped their noisemaking and ran out of the castle as fast of their legs could carry them, which wasn't all that fast. They didn't want to risk Jareth's wrath and a possible trip to the bog. When the goblins were finally gone, Jareth could finally think in quiet. He knew that someone had crossed through a portal into the mortal realm, but he didn't know who. But he also knew that they were back because he had sensed it when the portal had closed. Jareth looked up as a goblin guard came into the throne room.

"Your majesty, the dwarf, Hoggle, is here to see you."

"Tell him I do not wish to be bothered at the moment. I have a tremendous headache," Jareth said. He waved his hand to dismiss the guard.

"He said that he had a feeling you wouldn't wish to see him," the guard said. "So he asked that I tell you that this matter concerns the girl."

Jareth looked at the guard. The girl? Sarah! It had to be. It was the only girl that the goblins knew of; the only girl to ever enter his kingdom.

"Send him in," Jareth stated as he sat up straighter in his throne.

Hoggle stepped into the throne room. He looked at Jareth sitting in his throne. Then Hoggle realized that he wasn't afraid. Normally when he was at the castle, he was terrified. He hadn't felt this brave since Sarah had been in the Underground. It must have something do with having just seen her and knowing that what he was doing was for her.

"I take it you are the one who crossed through the portal?" Jareth asked Hoggle.

"Yes," Hoggle answered, "it was me. I had no choice. Sarah called. When someone calls, we have to answer. Even you know that."

"The guard said you had something to tell me," Jareth told Hoggle.

"Sarah needs you, Jareth," Hoggle answered. "But I don't think she knows that she needs you. She called on her friends here because she needed someone to help her. Her parents was killed yesterday and Toby is the only family she has left. She wants us to help her, but I don't know how to help her. She probably won't like it that I came to you, but I didn't have a choice."

Jareth looked at Hoggle. Sarah's parents were gone? Was she planning on raising Toby herself?

"Thank you, Hoggle," Jareth said. "I'm sure Sarah will be mad at first, but I'm sure that in time she'll understand why you came to me."

"Are you going to go see her?" Hoggle asked.

"Not right now," Jareth said. "She needs some time to work through this. If I show up now, who knows what it will do to her. She hasn't seen me in nine years. There's no telling how she'll react. I think I'll wait until she's not in such an emotional state."

Jareth dismissed Hoggle and summoned a crystal into his hand. An image of Sarah appeared in the crystal. She was sitting on a small bed next to a boy who looked to be about 10 years old.

~Could that be Toby?~ Jareth wondered to himself. ~Of course it is. Who else would it be.~

When Jareth looked closer, he saw that the two of them were crying. The days ahead would be rough for them, but Jareth would not allow anything bad to happen. 

"I will watch over you, Sarah," Jareth said softly. "I wish I could be there now, but I'm the last thing you need right now."

Jareth sat back and watched Sarah and Toby silently. He would find ways to let Sarah know he was there without physically going there. He had to find some way to let them know that they were not alone.

____________________

Sarah rolled over as her alarm clock went off Monday morning. Her entire weekend had been spent planning her parents funeral. She had called the hospital where she worked and had told them what had happened. They were very understanding and had told Sarah to take as much time off as she needed. But she knew that by now she would have piles of charts to sort through and so she had decided to go in to work for at least a few hours and try to get some stuff done. But mostly she just wanted to go in to help get her mind on something other than funeral arrangements.

"Sarah?" Toby said as he eased open her bedroom door. "Do I have to go to school today? I don't want to leave."

"Oh, Toby," Sarah said as she sat up in her bed. "I'm going in to work for a few hours today. Why don't you just go for awhile and see how you feel."

"I can't," Toby said. "The last time I left home, Mommy and Daddy died. I don't want you to die, too!"

"That's not going to happen. Tell you what, why don't we swing by and get the work that you've missed from your teachers and then you can come hang out at the hospital with me. I'm sure the other nurses there can find something to occupy you."

Toby smiled and ran to his room to get ready to go. Sarah just pulled on some jeans and a sweat shirt. She wasn't planning on actually doing any nursing work so she didn't see any reason to put on her scrubs. She pulled her hair up in a bun and headed down to the kitchen to make some coffee. She realized she hadn't yet sorted through her mail from the weekend so she sat down at the table to start sorting through it.

~Bills, bills, sympathy card, bills. Sympathy card? How did that get here so soon?~

Sarah picked up the card and looked at the envelope. There was no return address. It was a white envelope and it didn't even have her address on it. She opened the card and saw that it also wasn't signed. She read what it said.

I know what you're going through. I, too, have felt the pain of losing something that I love very much. Just know that you are in my thoughts and I wish the best for you and Toby. You have friends who care and who will help you through all of this. Nobody should have to go through this alone. Also remember that whenever you need it most, people who care aren't far away.

Sarah looked at the card and smiled. She figured it was from the other tenants in the apartment. It helped to know that there were people around here that cared. Sarah laid the card down on the table and went over and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Toby!" she yelled up the stairs. "Let's go! We'll drive through McDonald's and get some breakfast on our way."

Toby came bounding down the steps. He had never been to the hospital where Sarah worked. He couldn't wait to see what all she did and tell his friends all about his trip to the hospital. For the first time since Friday night, Toby looked happy. Sarah and Toby grabbed their jackets and headed out the door. Neither of them noticed the white owl perched on the tree outside Sarah's kitchen window watching them.

____________________

It was Tuesday morning; the day of the funeral. Sarah knew that the people that her mom and dad worked with would be there as well as Sarah's friends from the hospital, the Anderson's, and the people in Sarah's apartment. Today was the day when things would start to wrap up. The funeral is what would make it all seem final, and truth be told, Sarah was kind of glad that this was going to be over. Of course there was still the healing to go through, but at least she could shut one part of the book after today. 

"Do I have to wear this?" Toby asked as he walked into the bathroom where Sarah was curling her hair.

"Yes, you do," Sarah said. She had taken Toby shopping yesterday after leaving the hospital. Every piece of clothing that Toby owned had been destroyed in the fire. Luckily he had forgotten a few things the last time he had come over so he actually had clean clothes to wear.

"But I want to wear my jeans," Toby said with a bit of a whine in his voice.

"You can't wear jeans, Toby. Wear the dress pants and the shirt. At least I'm not making you wear a tie."

"It's not fair," Toby mumbled as he turned and walked out of the bathroom.

You say that so often. I wonder what your basis for comparison is.

~Ugh!~ Sarah thought to herself. ~Of all the days for the Labyrinth to come back and haunt me, it had to be today didn't it?~ Sarah could picture Jareth's face clearly in her mind when he had said those words. Sometimes it felt as if all that had happened just yesterday instead of nine years ago.

"Well how's this for a basis, Jareth?" Sarah said to herself. "My parents are gone and I have nobody to help me raise Toby. It's just not fair."

Sarah finished curling her hair and went in to her room to change. She slipped on a black dress that hit just above her knee. It was long sleeved with a modest neckline. Lastly, Sarah picked up the necklace that her parents had given her for graduation. It had belonged to Karen's mother, and her grandmother before that. It was a plain silver necklace and Sarah had decided to wear it for the first time today in honor of her mom. But as Sarah picked up the necklace, she saw something that she hadn't noticed on it before. Dangling from the necklace was a small charm and as Sarah looked closer, she could see that it was a small crystal that looked filled with color when the sunlight hit it.

~I never noticed that before.~ Sarah thought to herself. ~But it's also just been sitting here for quite a few years. It could be that I just don't remember.~

Sarah walked downstairs where Toby was already waiting.

"Are you ready?" Sarah asked.

Toby looked up at her and she could tell that he was trying not to cry.

"I know it's going to be hard," Sarah said, "but we'll make it through."

Toby reached out and grabbed Sarah's hand as they headed out the door and to the church.

____________________

Sarah and Toby stood side by side at the cemetery. It had been a long and tiring day for both of them.

"Is this the end, Sarah?" Toby asked.

"It's the beginning of the end, Toby," Sarah said as she stooped down so she was looking him in the eye. "We still have a long way to go. The hurt will never go away, but it will get easier every day."

Sarah took Toby's hand and they headed towards the car in silence. Sarah looked up at the tree by her car. Sitting on the branch was a snowy, white owl. Sarah froze with her hand on the door. The wind started blowing and Sarah listened as a voice came through the wind.

I'm always here for you. All you have to do is call.

Sarah looked back at the tree, but the owl was gone. Sarah climbed in the car and headed towards home.

____________________

Sarah and Toby rode in silence the entire way home. When they got home, Toby went up to his room and shut the door. Sarah just let him go and went to her room to change. As she walked in the door, she picked up her book and went and sat at her desk.

"Why are you still here?" Sarah asked out loud. "You should have burned in the fire, and yet I'm holding you in my hand. How is that possible?"

Sarah hadn't heard her bedroom door open. Toby walked up next to Sarah and saw the book in her hand.

"What's that?" Toby asked. Sarah jumped at her brother's voice.

"Toby, you scared me," Sarah said as she turned around. "This is one of my books from when I was little."

"I thought all your books were in the attic at the house?"

"Well, they were," Sarah said.

"I know that one was there, too," Toby said. "I remember seeing you put it in the box."

"Yeah, it was in that box. I don't know how it happened, but I found this book the night of the fire. For some reason, it didn't burn up."

"That's weird," Toby said. "What's it called?"

"Labyrinth," Sarah said with a far away look in her eyes.

"Does it have anything to do with the funny looking people that were in your room Saturday morning?"

"How did you know about that?" Sarah asked.

"I came to see if you were awake, and I opened the door and saw them. I heard you say that you couldn't raise me by yourself. Then I saw them walk through the mirror and you went and laid down. I quietly came into the room and looked at your mirror. I don't think the thing in the mirror saw me, but I heard him say that he didn't know how to help you and something about you needing a person and not a dwarf. Then he said he was going to go find the only person who would know how to help you. What was he talking about? And who was he?"

"Toby, I think you need to sit down," Sarah said as she got up from her desk. She pulled Toby over and sat him down on her bed. "You see, I got this book when I was about your age. I memorized every word. Well, one night, I was mad because I had to baby-sit you again. I didn't know that the book was real and I wished you away. The goblins came and took you and I had to go through a labyrinth to get you back. The three...things you saw in here were the friends that I made on my journey. Of course I made it in time, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here right now. Ludo is the big hairy one. He looks mean, but he could never hurt anything. Sir Didymus is the little fox. He's a bit on the crazy side, but I love him. Hoggle is the dwarf. He's the best friend I have from the labyrinth. He's probably the one you saw talking."

"Who was he going to get?" Toby asked.

"Jareth. He's the Goblin King."

"And you don't like him?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because Hoggle said that you might not forgive him but that he didn't have a choice," Toby said as he stood up and headed for the door.  
"Jareth and I aren't what you would call the best of friends. And Hoggle said he was going to tell Jareth? Come to think of it though, I probably would have done the same thing. Are you mad at me for wishing you away, Toby?"

"No," Toby said. "I just wish I could remember it. It sounds like a pretty cool place." Toby walked out the door and went downstairs to watch television and Sarah shoved the book in her purse.

"It was more than cool, Toby," Sarah said as she crossed over to her window. "It was everything I ever dreamed of."

Sarah opened her window to let in some air. She stared up at sky thinking about her travels through the Labyrinth and about everything that had happened since then. Her dreams of acting had died that night she had the fight with her birth mother. Sarah swore to herself to not even attempt to get better because she never wanted to become anything like Linda Williams. Instead she had gone to medical school and became a nurse. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but Sarah found satisfaction in knowing that she was helping people. She smiled as she remembered the one little boy that had come in with a broken arm. He had been trying to fly like Superman. She couldn't help but remember the days when her imagination had been that alive.

"What happened to me?" Sarah said to herself. "I used to love my imaginary worlds. And when I found out that one of them really existed, I made myself grow up so I wouldn't have to face it."

Sarah sighed and started thinking about her trip through the Labyrinth. It had been nine years since she had let herself dwell on her trip there. She had grown up there. She had realized that were people other than herself in the world. After that night, she didn't complain about having to watch Toby. She came out of her shell and actually ended up being a pretty popular person in high school.

"Everything changed," Sarah said to the sky. "All my dreams are gone. I still had the dream of acting in high school, but thanks to my 'mom', those dreams are gone. And now that the only mother I've ever really had is gone, I don't have anyone to talk to. I wish someone was here for me to talk to. I'm so scared."

Sarah walked over to her bed and started crying. She hadn't noticed that Jareth had appeared in the room right where she had been standing a moment before.

"I can't do this by myself!" Sarah cried into her pillow. "I can't. It's not fair!"

"You say that so often," Jareth said as he walked over and sat down on the edge of Sarah's bed. "But this time, I know you have a basis for comparison."

"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You called," Jareth said.

"I didn't think anyone would actually show up, but since you're here..." Sarah started crying again and Jareth pulled her too him and wrapped his arms around her. 

"It's okay," Jareth said. "I'm here and nothing is going to happen to you."

"Hey, Sarah," Toby said as he walked in the door, "can we go..." Toby stopped mid-sentence as he saw the guy in Sarah's room. He knew the man sitting on Sarah's bed. It was the face that was in his dreams all the time. 

"Toby!" Sarah said. "I didn't even hear you coming up the stairs."

Toby didn't say anything. He just stared at the man in Sarah's room.

"Toby? Are you okay?" Sarah asked as she got up and walked over to her brother.

"That's him, isn't it?" Toby asked Sarah.

"He knows?" Jareth asked as he stood and walked over to where Sarah and Toby were standing.

"Now he does. He saw Hoggle and the others in my room and asked me about it. I had to tell him."

"So that's really him?" Toby asked, his eyes starting to shine. "Wow! Cool! Can you take me back with you? I want to see the Labyrinth!"

"I don't know," Jareth said. "I don't really think Sarah would appreciate the fact that you want to go to the place that she worked so hard to save you from."

"I don't understand," Toby said. "If the Labyrinth's as cool as it sounds, why would Sarah try to save me? I would have stayed there forever."

"One moment, Toby," Jareth said. He pulled Sarah over so that Toby was out of earshot.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"You didn't tell him everything did you?"

"Well," Sarah said, "no. I just kind of gave him the summarized version."

"How much of a summary did you give him?" Jareth asked.

"I told him I wished him away and had to go through a labyrinth to get him back and that I won because otherwise he would still be there."

"So he doesn't know that he would have turned into a goblin if you hadn't made it?"

"I guess I kind of forgot that part," Sarah said as she looked at the ground.

"Oh boy," Jareth said as he walked back over to Toby.

"What are you two talking about?" Toby asked.

"Umm, Toby, I didn't exactly tell you the entire story."

"What do you mean?"

"If I hadn't tried to get you back or if I had lost, you would have been turned into a goblin."

"A what?" Toby asked.

"A goblin," Jareth said. "They're very stupid. Be glad she saved you."

"I'll take your word for it," Toby said. He paused for a minute and looked at the two of them. "Would you really have turned me into a goblin?"

"I guess we'll never know," Jareth said.

"Oh yeah!" Toby said. "I was coming up here to ask you something, Sarah. Can we go out to dinner?"

"Sure. Where do you wanna go?"

"Can we go to Tony's? I haven't been there in a long time."

"Sounds good to me," Sarah said. She turned to Jareth. "Wanna come?"

"And eat the food above ground? I have a better idea, that is, if you don't mind going underground?"

"Underground?" Toby said. "How can we eat underground? Won't the dirt get in the way?"

"The Underground is where the Labyrinth is," Sarah said. "I don't know, Jareth."

"Please, Sarah?" Toby begged. "I really wanna go!"

"Oh all right," Sarah said. She knew she couldn't deny Toby anything. For the moment, he wasn't thinking about what all had happened this past week. If going underground would help cheer him up, she would humor him.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Toby said as he jumped up and down. "I wish the goblins would come and take me away right now!"

"Toby, no! Not that way!" Sarah yelled, but it was too late. Toby was gone.

____________________

Toby looked around him. He was standing on a hill overlooking the Labyrinth. 

~I did it. I'm in the Underground. But where's Sarah and Jareth?~

____________________

"No! Toby, no!" Sarah screamed. She turned to look at Jareth.

"Tell me he's not gone, please tell me he's not gone!"

"I'm sorry, Sarah," Jareth said. "There's nothing I can do. There are rules you know."

"So you're saying that you can't do anything?"

"The only thing we can do is hope he can make it through the Labyrinth in 13 hours. Go to the castle and wait. I'll go tell Toby what's going on."

Jareth produced a crystal in his hand and handed it to Sarah. As soon as she touched it, she was transported to the castle. She looked around and realized that she had been sent to a bedroom. In the middle of the room stood an elaborate bed. A vanity sat opposite the bed and there was a door on either side of the vanity. Sarah walked over to see what was behind the doors. The one on the left opened up into a bathroom and the one on the right was a closet full of elaborate dresses.

"Well I guess I can rest assured that Jareth didn't send me to his room. I would have killed him."

Sarah shut the closet door and walked over to the bed. She was pretty tired after all that she had been through today. She looked down at her clothes and realized that she was still wearing the dress that she had on at the funeral.

~I guess I'll just have to sleep in this.~ she thought to herself. Sarah sat down on the bed and ran her hand over the blankets. It was all silk. Sarah laid down and closed her eyes and was asleep in no time.

____________________

Jareth appeared on the hill behind Toby.

"Hello, Toby," Jareth said as he walked up to stand next to him.

"You scared me," Toby said. "But this is cool. I'm really here."

"I'm afraid you are," Jareth said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Toby, you wished for the goblins to come. Therefore, in order to return home, you must make your way through this labyrinth. There's nothing I can do. Sarah tried to stop you before you said the words, but she didn't stop you in time. You will have just as much help as Sarah had, maybe more since it will be her three friends that I'll send to help you. I myself cannot help you out of this, but her friends can. And Toby, you have 13 hours to solve the Labyrinth before you become one of us forever."

Jareth disappeared from the hillside and Toby stared at the spot where he had just been standing.

"I don't believe this," Toby said. "I actually have to go through that. Oh, boy."

Toby started down the hill towards the Labyrinth. It looked like he was going to get more than he bargained for by going to the Underground.

____________________

Sarah woke up and looked around the room. For a minute, she wasn't sure where she was. Then she remembered what happened.

"Oh, Toby," she said to herself. "What have you done?" Sarah got up from the bed and walked over to the balcony. She looked out over the Labyrinth and knew that her brother was down there somewhere. She didn't notice that Jareth had appeared on the balcony right behind her.

"He'll be okay. Hoggle and the others will be there to help him."

Sarah jumped at the sound of Jareth's voice.

"Don't ever do that to me again."

"Do what?" Jareth asked as he walked over and leaned on the balcony rail.

"Scare the crap out of me," Sarah said as she turned back around to face the Labyrinth. "What if I had fallen over the edge?"

"You wouldn't have gone far."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah asked, turning to face him.

"I wouldn't have let you fall," Jareth stated matter of factly. "Do you seriously think I'd let you die?"

"I wouldn't put it past you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sarah."

"No problem," Sarah said. She turned away from Jareth, trying hard not to smile.

"What?" Jareth asked as he saw the corners of her mouth turning up.

"Nothing," Sarah said. "But there for a minute, did you really think I was upset?"  
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did."

"Well then, I guess I'm a better actress than anyone ever gave me credit for," Sarah said with an edge in her voice. She turned from the balcony and walked back into the bedroom. Jareth watched her, puzzled over what had caused this change in Sarah.

"What are you talking about?" Jareth asked as he followed Sarah back into the room. Sarah looked up at him and told him everything about the fight with her mother and having grown closer to Karen as a result. Jareth's face registered a look of surprise when he heard what Sarah's mother had said to him.

"She actually told you that you had embarrassed her? If you ask me, she's unfit to be a mother."

"Oh believe me, that's the one time since wishing Toby away that I was tempted to do it again," Sarah said. "Only this time, I would have taken your crystal and let you keep her. I was still mad enough at you that I would have made you put up with her."

"Mad at me?" Jareth asked. "Why would you be mad at me?"

"You kidnapped my brother! Or do you seem to not remember that?"

"Technically, I didn't kidnap him. You asked me to take him."

"And when I told you that I didn't mean it, you still wouldn't give him back!" Sarah yelled. She was beginning to get very annoyed. 

"And I told you, what's said is said," Jareth stated as he crossed to the door.

"Well I don't care," Sarah said as she turned her back on him. "You still could've given him back."

"I don't believe this," Jareth said as he opened the door. "I don't think you understand just how much I have done for you, Sarah. I don't think you ever will understand. You're just content to go through life without your dreams. You're also content to blame others for your actions. I thought you had changed that habit after beating my Labyrinth, but I guess that deep down, the spoiled people never change. No matter how hard you try, I don't think you'll ever change." Jareth slammed the door behind him leaving Sarah to herself.

____________________

Toby looked up at the wall in front of him. How was he supposed to get in? Jareth said that him that he'd get as much help as Sarah had, but Sarah never told him all the details so he wasn't sure how much help Sarah had received. Suddenly, two huge doors opened and a short little man walked out.

"Are you Hoggle?" Toby asked.

"Yes. And I suppose you're Toby?"

"Uh-huh," Toby said. "Are you here to help me? Jareth said I'd have as much help as Sarah got."

"Well, at this point, the only thing I can do is show you the doors. That's all I did for your sister. How'd you get yourself here anyway?"

"Well, Sarah and I were going to come and eat dinner at the castle. I was so excited to get here that I accidentally wished myself here. Now I have to go through this labyrinth so I can go home. But I'd much rather stay here. At least then I'd have a guy to hang around. I love my sister, but she doesn't know what little boys like. I'm sure Jareth would know."

"Well, good luck, Toby," Hoggle said as Toby walked through the doors. Toby looked down both halls. "Which way should I go?" he said softly to himself.

"Sarah asked the same thing," Hoggle said coming up behind Toby.

"What did you tell her?"

"That I wouldn't go either way."

"How helpful of you," Toby said sarcastically. "Well let's see, the right has lots of branches and stuff in the way and the left looks clear. I think I'll go left." Toby turned to his left and started down the long corridor.

____________________

Jareth was pacing the escher room. He had been doing this for the past half hour. The nerve of her! After all that he had done for her, she was still mad at him for taking Toby!

"It's not like I had a choice you know," he said to himself. "There are rules. If I could've changed them for her, I would have. I'd do anything for here. But there are some things that even I can't change." Jareth formed a crystal in his palm and transported himself back to his throne room. He walked over and sat down at his throne. He formed another crystal in his hand and Toby's image came into view. Jareth bolted upright in his throne when he saw where Toby was. Toby was in more trouble than he knew, and Jareth couldn't do anything. Sarah hadn't been in this part of the Labyrinth, so her friends couldn't help Toby. But Jareth knew he had to do something. Nobody had ever survived the rapids of this river. It was impossible to swim across and there was no way to walk around it. Maybe it was time to prove to Sarah just how far he would go to make her happy. Jareth morphed into his owl form and flew off to help Toby.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toby looked around him. He had come to the edge of a very fast river. He was a good swimmer, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it. He had looked all around but didn't see any sort of bridge to cross on. He sat down at the edge and carefully put his hand in. The water was unusually warm.

~I can make it. The waters warm so it should make it easier to swim.~ Toby put one foot in the river and then the other. So far so good. Toby took another step and the current grabbed him and pulled him under. Jareth landed on the ground and morphed back just in time to see Toby pulled under.

"Toby, no!" Jareth yelled. He watched in horror as Toby was pulled under. If Jareth didn't step in, Toby was done for. He had no choice. Jareth formed a crystal and sent it to fetch Toby from the water. The crystal floated above the river and grew larger. It finally went under the water and came up a couple seconds later with Toby inside. He wasn't moving and Jareth knew he had to act quickly or Toby wouldn't survive. Jareth sent the crystal to the castle and he followed. Jareth and Toby appeared in Jareth's chambers. Jareth quickly took Toby and laid him down on his bed. He then sent one of his goblin guards to fetch the resident doctor. Jareth formed a crystal in his hand and brought Hoggle into the room.

"Huh? Wha... what happened?" Hoggle asked as he looked around in confusion.

"Hoggle, keep an eye on Toby," Jareth said as he stood up. "I need to go see Sarah."

Hoggle looked over at the bed where Toby was lying. His eyes grew wide as he saw that Toby was unconscious and soaking wet.

"What happened?" Hoggle asked.

"The river," Jareth said. "I'll be back in a moment with Sarah." Jareth disappeared from the room and reappeared in Sarah's. Sarah was out on the balcony looking out over the Labyrinth.

"Sarah," Jareth said from behind her, "we need to talk."

"Look, if you're hear to yell at me some more, I really don't need it," Sarah said without turning to look at Jareth.

"I didn't come to yell at you," Jareth said. "But I think you need to come in here and sit down. It's about Toby."

Sarah turned around and the color drained out of her face. She knew something was wrong.

"What happened? What did you do to him?" Sarah asked accusingly.

"I didn't do anything to him," Jareth said indignantly. "In fact, I broke the rules to save your brother's life. I just hope I got to him in time. He didn't realize how strong the currents in the river were. I didn't get there in time to stop him from stepping in. Right now he's on my bed, unconscious. I think you need to come with me."

"No, no, no," Sarah said. "Oh my gosh. I can't lose him, I can't. He's all I have left. Oh, please no."

"Come on," Jareth said. Sarah walked over to him. "Grab my hand."

Sarah hesitantly reached out and put her hand in Jareth's. The room around her began to spin and she soon found herself in Jareth's chambers. She saw Toby lying on the bed and rushed over to him.

"Oh, Toby," Sarah said. "How is he, Hoggle?" Sarah laid down next to Toby and put her arm over him. "Oh my goodness! He's soaking wet! Jareth, can't you at least dry him off?"

Jareth waved his hand in the air and Toby's clothes were soon dry.

"I've sent for the doctor," Jareth said as he went to the other side of the bed and sat down on the edge.

"A goblin doctor," Sarah said. "This I'd like to see."

"Actually, it's not a goblin," Jareth said. "He's from the mortal realm. I actually met him when he was a young boy. He wished his brother away but he didn't make it in time. Strangely enough, he still talks to me. He told me that he knows it's his own fault that his brother is a goblin. When he became a doctor, he told me that should I ever need his help to send for him."

"Oh," Sarah said. "So he still talks to you even though you turned his brother into a goblin?"

"Yes. He gets along better with his brother now than he did before. His brother is probably the smartest goblin in the Underground. And he also happens to be your best friend," Jareth said with a smile. Sarah turned to look at Hoggle.

"You?" she asked. "You used to be one of us?"

"Yeah," Hoggle said. "I never say anything though. I actually kind of like being a goblin. And Jareth's right. We get along better now."

"But you're a dwarf," Sarah said.

"I was too big to be turned into an actual goblin. I was the age Toby is now when my brother wished me away. So I became a dwarf. It's nice because I can still communicate with people."

There was a knock on the door and Jareth made the door open with a wave of his hand. In walked a goblin guard followed by a man that Sarah recognized.

"Dr. Peters!" Sarah gasped. "Oh my goodness!"

"Sarah?" Dr. Peters said as he walked across the room. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story," Sarah said.

"You two know each other?" Jareth said.

"Dr. Peters is Toby and I's doctor," Sarah told Jareth. "I've known him since I was five."

"What seems to be the problem, Jareth?" Dr. Peters asked.

"It's Toby," Jareth said. "He fell into the river and he's unconscious."

Dr. Peters looked at the bed and looked at Toby. He walked over and started examining Toby. Sarah stood nervously by the bed. Jareth walked over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Well," Dr. Peters said as he stood from his position next to Toby, "his head injury doens't look all that bad. He should wake up within the next few minutes. But the fact remains, Toby hit his head pretty hard. Most people who hit their head this hard don't have any memory of the incident or anything prior to the incident. When he wakes up, it is very likely that he won't know who the two of you are, or even who he is for that matter."

"No," Sarah said as Dr. Peters put his hand on her other shoulder. "Please, tell me that won't happen!" Sarah was near hysterics at this point. She didn't even notice when Jareth reached down and grasped her hand. 

"I'm sorry, Sarah, but there's nothing I can do. All any of us can do is wait. I'll come by every day and check on him." 

Dr. Peters walked out the door and Sarah turned and buried her face in Jareth's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

"This can't be happening," Sarah sobbed. "I can't lose him, too!"

"I'm so sorry about this, Sarah," Jareth said as he ran his hand through her hair. "I should've gotten there sooner. I should've broken the rules when he first said the words. I shouldn't have made him go through that stupid Labyrinth."

"It's not your fault," Sarah said as she looked up at him. "I shouldn't have said all those things, Jareth. I know that there are rules and you had no choice but to make Toby go through the Labyrinth."

"I'm also sorry for yelling at you earlier," Jareth said quietly. Sarah looked at him. He was actually apologizing? That was a shock.

"You were right though," Sarah said. "I have been acting spoiled. You would think that with everything that has happened to me, I would be the least selfish person. I guess some things never change." Sarah pulled away from Jareth and went and sat next to Toby on the bed. She looked back at Jareth with fear in her eyes.

"What if he doesn't remember me?" Sarah said. "How will I survive if I lose the only family I have left?"

"There's no guarantee that his memory will be gone," Jareth said. "All we can do is wait. And if his memory is gone, we'll do everything possible to try and get him to remember."

"But everything from his childhood is gone. It all went up in flames. Well, everything except..." Sarah trailed off. She wasn't sure if she should tell Jareth about the book or not.

"Everything except what? Don't tell me that something actually survived that fire?"

"Well, one thing did. Wait here, I'll be right back."

Sarah rushed out the door and down to her room. She grabbed her purse off of the vanity in her room and headed back to Toby's room. When she walked in the door, she saw the Jareth had pulled a chair up next to Toby. His back was to the door and he hadn't heard Sarah come in. Sarah quietly walked closer to the bed to try and hear what Jareth was saying.

"Come on, Toby," Jareth said quietly. "You have to wake up. Sarah needs you. You're the only family she has left. You have to remember her. As much as I'd like her to need me, she needs you right now. You're her brother and she..." Jareth stopped as he sensed someone behind him. He turned and saw Sarah standing behind him.

"Umm... I brought this back to show you what survived," Sarah said. She couldn't let Jareth know how much what he just said had effected her. She opened up her purse and pulled out the book. She slowly held it out to Jareth. Jareth stood from the chair he had been sitting in and reached out to take the book from Sarah. 

"What in the world...?" Jareth's voice trailed off as he looked at the book in his hand. This survived the fire? Of all things to survive, it had to be the one thing that would remind her of this world. "How is this possible?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Sarah said as she came and stood next to Jareth. "At first I thought maybe you had something to do with it. But then I figured that if you had something to do with it, Hoggle wouldn't have had to tell you about what happened."

"I didn't have anything to do with it," Jareth said as he flipped through the pages of the book. "But I do know this, there must be some reason for this book to have..." Once again, Jareth's voice trailed off as he began reading the pages in the book.

"What?" Sarah asked as she tried to peer over the edge of the book.

"Sarah, this book is not the same one that you memorized so many years ago," Jareth said. "I think this book changed after you defeated the Labyrinth. It's your name in this book now. This is your story, not the story that was written as a fairy tale long ago. No longer is this a fairy tale. This is your life story."

Sarah took the book from his hands and flipped through the pages. Sure enough, the words on the page were not the ones from the story she memorized as a little girl. Instead, they contained every word that she had said while trying to save Toby. It gave details about every aspect of her journey. Sarah turned to the last page and read the words on that page. Tears started running down her face as she read.

As the words to defeat Jareth left Sarah's mouth, the crystal he was holding in his hand was thrown into the air. As it came back down, Sarah reached out to grab it, but it popped on her fingertips. She didn't see the look of sadness that crossed Jareth's face before he changed into owl form. 

Sarah looked up and realized that she was back in her own house. She watched as a white owl flew out the window as the clock struck midnight. ~Toby~ she thought. She turned and ran up the stairs, yelling her brothers name. She opened the door to her parents room and saw Toby asleep in his crib. She picked up her bear, Lancelot, and put him in the crib next to Toby.

"I'd like Lancelot to belong to you now," Sarah said as she pulled the blanket up over her brother. Sarah turned and went to her room as she heard her parents pulling in the driveway. As Sarah sat at her desk putting things away, she looked and saw Ludo in her mirror. She turned, but Ludo was not there. Turning back around, she saw Sir Didymus.

"And remember, fair maiden," he said as he faded away to reveal Hoggle.

"Should you need us," Hoggle said.

"I do need you Hoggle. Every now and again in my life, for no reason at all, I need you. All of you." Sarah said wistfully.

"You do?" Hoggle said. "Then why didn't you say so?"

As Sarah turned around this time, she saw all the creatures from the Labyrinth in her room. She ran to her friends, hugging them. None of them noticed the white owl outside her bedroom window, hoping to be let in. When it became obvious that Jareth was not going to be invited in, he flew off into the moonlight.

"I didn't know you were there," Sarah said as she looked up at Jareth.

"Would it have made a difference?" Jareth asked as he turned back to look at Toby.

Sarah was silent for a minute as she thought about how to answer. She had said that she needed all of them. Didn't all include Jareth? It was, after all, his kingdom.

"Yes," Sarah said, "it would have made a difference. I said I needed all of you. All would include you. I think I needed you most of all, just like I need you now."

Jareth turned to look at Sarah. Had he heard her right? Did she just say that she needed him?

"What did you say?" Jareth asked as he moved closer to Sarah.

"I said that I need you," Sarah said, tears streaming down her face. "I think I need you now more than ever. You're the only one who can help Toby and I through this. I don't want to have to do this alone. Please, help me."

Jareth pulled Sarah too him and held her close. She cried into his shoulder for a few minutes and then looked up at him. "Thank you," Sarah said as she wiped the tears from her face. "I know now why this book survived. It survived so that I could finally see what you had been trying to show me all along. Please don't let me go through this alone."

Jareth slowly brought his hand up to her face and gently caressed her cheek.

"All you ever have to do is ask, and I'll be there," Jareth said. He slowly lowered his head. His lips lightly brushed Sarah's and the kiss deepened as Sarah kissed him back.

"Where am I?" a voice said, breaking their kiss. They pulled away from each other and looked at Toby. Sarah was the first to his side.

"Toby? Thank God your okay," Sarah said as she wrapped her arms around Toby. "How do you feel?"

Toby looked at Sarah with a blank stare on his face. Sarah saw the look and knew that Toby didn't remember a thing. She looked up at Jareth, his eyes telling her that what she feared most had happened. Toby didn't remember a thing.

"Who are you?" Toby asked. "And who's that guy? And who's Toby?"

Sarah bit her bottom lip, trying to keep the tears from falling. The only family she had left didn't remember her! 

"You're Toby," Jareth said as he came over and sat next to Sarah on the bed. "I'm Jareth and this is my home."

"And I'm your sister," Sarah said as she looked at Toby. "I'm Sarah."

"If you're my sister, then why don't I remember you? And if I'm Toby, why don't I recognize my own name?"

"Well, Toby," Sarah said, "there was an accident. You fell and hit your head pretty hard. A doctor came and looked at you and told us that you might not remember anything when you woke up."

"Are we related to him?" Toby asked, motioning towards Jareth.

"No, you're not related to me," Jareth said. "I'm just a..." He stalled, not knowing exactly what he was to the two of them.

"Jareth is a friend," Sarah filled in. "He's letting us stay at his house for awhile. But we're going to let you get some sleep. Hopefully with enough rest, you'll get your memories back."

Sarah and Jareth stood up from the edge of the bed and walked towards the door. Jareth reached out and grabbed Sarah's hand and squeezed it lightly. Sarah looked up at him, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. They walked out into the hallway and shut the door behind them. As soon as the door closed, Sarah burst into tears. Jareth pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her.

"I can't do this," Sarah sobbed into Jareth's chest. "I can't lose the last bit of family I have. He had to get his memory back, he has to!"

"I don't know what to say, Sarah," Jareth said as he softly stroked her hair. "For once in my life, I've found something that my magic cannot fix. I wish it could fix this, but it can't. Come with me. You need to rest."

Jareth transported them back to the room Sarah was staying in. 

"Umm, Jareth?" Sarah asked as he turned to leave the room.

"Yes?"

"Since Toby's asleep, is there any way we could make a trip back to my house and get some of our things? I really don't want to wear this dress the entire time I'm here."

"There's a closet full of clothes right over there," Jareth said pointing to one of the two doors.

"It's full of dresses. Not exactly the kind of clothing to wear around this place."

"I think you'd be surprised," Jareth told her. "And in the drawers on the back wall of the closet are some night clothes. Put something on and get some sleep. You've had a rough day."

Jareth turned and walked out of the room. Sarah walked over and opened the closet. As she looked through the dresses, she noticed that all of them appeared to be her size. She walked to the back of the closet and found the drawers Jareth had been talking about.

~I hope it's not more silk~ Sarah thought to herself. ~The dresses are lovely, but I want something soft and warm~

Sarah opened the top drawer and quickly slammed the door back shut, heat beginning to rise to her cheeks.

~Funny, Jareth. If you think I'm going to put on one of those nightgowns, you are sadly mistaken.~

Sarah braced herself and opened the next drawer. The pajamas in here were more decent than the others, but they were all silk. Sarah sighed and pulled out the next drawer. She smiled as she pulled it open.

~That's more like it~ Sarah thought to herself as she pulled out the same pajamas that she had worn to bed the night before. "Thank you, Jareth," she said softly.

Sarah changed her clothes and went and laid down on the huge bed. Jareth was right, she did need rest. Sarah buried herself under the blankets and was asleep in minutes.

____________________

Jareth sat on his throne amidst the chaos and confusion caused by his goblins. Usually, he would've already had enough and would've threatened the goblins within an inch of their lives if they didn't shut up. But today, he hardly even noticed the noise. He was absorbed in thought. Thoughts about Sarah and the fact that she had actually kissed him. He knew that things had changed between them, but he still wasn't sure where things were going. He conjured up a crystal and checked in on Toby and then Sarah. They were both sound asleep. His gaze lingered on Sarah. He knew he loved her, he always had. And he was sure that she was finally starting to realize it. Jareth turned his gaze away from the crystal and let it disappear from his hand.

"I must do something to prove that I love her," Jareth said to himself. "But what should I do?"

He finally decided to just take things one step at time. He would start by letting her know that he would be there whenever she needed him. A thought suddenly struck him. Sarah and Toby hadn't eaten anything all day! The entire reason this happened was because they were going to come and eat dinner in the Underground. Jareth quickly sent a message to his head cook and told him to prepare a meal fit for a queen. Then he called for Hoggle. Hoggle appeared in the throne room moments later.

"You called Jareth?" Hoggle asked as he walked into the throne room.

"I'm going to need your assistance," Jareth said.

Hoggle looked at Jareth in shock. Jareth never asked for help. Whatever it was, Hoggle knew it was important.

"What do you need?"

"I want to do something for Sarah. I've already had the cook start preparing a meal fit for a queen. However, things could get awkward if Toby were there since he doesn't remember anything. Would you mind staying with Toby tonight? I know Sarah trusts you and she won't worry about him if she knows that you're looking after her brother."

"Won't be a problem. I assume you'll have food sent to Toby's room so's he can eat?"

"Yes," Jareth said. "Food will be provided for both of you. Who knows, maybe something you could tell him might help him remember who he is."

Hoggle nodded and walked down the hallway towards Toby's room. Jareth transported himself to Sarah's room. She was still sleeping soundly. Jareth stood there for a moment just looking at her. He quietly walked over the bed and conjured up a crystal. The crystal in his hand turned into a red rose and he laid it softly on the pillow next to Sarah's head. A white envelope with her name on it appeared next to the rose. Jareth looked at Sarah once more and transported to his chambers to get ready for dinner. Tonight would be the first night he would try and prove his love to Sarah.


	2. Dinner for Two

Disclaimer: You know, I just realized that I forgot to put the disclaimer on the first part of Flames

Disclaimer: You know, I just realized that I forgot to put the disclaimer on the first part of Flames. However, I think we all know that I don't own anything and I'm not making anything off of this, so don't sue me. I don't even think I could afford to give you pocket lint. Also, the song Shape of my Heart belongs to my favorite people of all time, the Backstreet Boys. If you do feel like contacting them about me using their song, just give them my name, address, phone number, and let Nick know I am single. :o) But anyway… I think that about covers it! Enjoy the story!

A/N: Okay guys… I know it's taken like, forever and a day for me to finally post more of this story and for that I am incredibly sorry. But you'll be happy to know that I'm also almost done with Part 3. I was suffering from a horrible case of writer's block and my thanks go out to Unicorn Lady, Melissa Davis, and Danalas for helping me get out! Thanks guys!!! :o)

****

Flames-Part 2

Sarah stretched and rolled over in her bed. She opened her eyes and looked out the window in her room. The sun was setting and Sarah wasn't sure how long she had been asleep. She got up and walked over to the balcony and looked out over the labyrinth. She couldn't help but think about how much things had changed since the last time she had been there, and especially how much Jareth seemed to have changed. Sarah turned and walked back over to her bed and noticed the rose and the envelope with her name on it.

"What is this?" Sarah asked out loud. She picked up the envelope and gently opened it. She pulled out the card and read what it said.

_Dearest Sarah,_

I hope this finds you well rested. It suddenly came to me that you and Toby had yet to eat anything since coming to my castle. It would give me the greatest pleasure if you would agree to eat dinner with me this evening. Don't worry arrangements for Toby have already been made.

I'm sure that you have noticed that there are dresses in your closet. In case you're wondering, yes, they will fit you. Pick any dress you like. One of my goblins will come to get you at 7 o'clock. (There's a clock on the wall above your vanity in case you were wondering.)

I hope to see you soon.

Jareth

Sarah carefully picked up the rose from her pillow. She was still so confused about everything that had happened that day. She knew that there was something going on between her and Jareth, but it scared her. Sarah knew from experience what happened when she got close to people. First, she lost her mother to Hollywood. Then, she lost her father and Karen in the fire. Now, she was on the verge of losing Toby due to lost memories. She would die before she would allow another person to be taken from her. She would put an end to anything that may be happening, but first, she had to check on Toby.

Sarah quietly opened the door to Toby's room and peered around the corner. Toby was sound asleep and Hoggle was sitting next to the bed. He turned at the sound of the door.

"Hi, Sarah. Why ain't ya gettin' ready fer dinner?" Hoggle asked.

"I'm just coming over to check on Toby. How's he doing?"

"Fine. 'Course he's been sleepin' this whole time, but most likely he's the same as before."

"Will you come get me if anything changes?" Sarah asked.

"Sure thing."

Sarah walked back into her room and crossed to the closet. There wasn't enough time left for her to wash up, so she'd just have to do the best she could. She opened the closet door and stared at the numerous dresses, not knowing how she was ever going to pick one. After a few moments of thought, Sarah pulled a dark green gown out of the closet. She laid it on her bed and crossed over to the bathroom. 

A few minutes later, Sarah came out of the bathroom, her face washed and hair slightly damp to allow her to work with it easier. She slipped her pajamas off and pulled the dress on over her head. She sat down at the vanity and began brushing her hair. She then piled it up on her head, leaving some curled tendrils hanging down. She pulled open the drawer of her vanity and found a vast assortment of jewelry. She selected a gold chain with an emerald teardrop hanging from it.

Sarah stood up from the vanity and looked in the full-length mirror hanging on her closet door. She couldn't believe the person she was looking at was actually her! The only thing she needed now was a pair of shoes. She looked in the closet and selected a pair of green strappy sandals that matched her dress. She slipped them on and glanced at the finished product in the mirror.

~Finished~ she thought to herself. ~And just in time.~

The clock said it was now 7:00, which meant that the goblin Jareth had sent for her would soon be arriving. Sarah sat at her vanity to wait for the messenger.

__________

Jareth was in the dining room pacing. It was 7:20. Where was Sarah? She should have been here by now! He quickly formed a crystal in his hand and Sarah's image soon appeared. She was in the hallway, looking lost as could be. 

"I'm going to kill that goblin when I find him," Jareth muttered to himself. He glanced back in the crystal and, noticing Sarah's face, tried hard not to laugh. He could tell she was getting aggravated over not being able to find the dining room. Perhaps it was time he assisted her…

__________

Sarah had been wandering the hallway for 10 minutes. Surely it couldn't take this long to get to the dining room! She was growing more aggravated by the minute and wasn't watching where she was going. She ran right into the wall. At least, she thought it was a wall until it started talking to her.

"Hello, Sarah. Having trouble?"

Sarah looked up and saw Jareth with his trademark smirk on his face. It certainly didn't help her mood any.

"If you must know, yes, I am having trouble. Seems your little messenger got lost and I wasn't about to stay in my room. I was simply trying to make my way to the dining room. However, your castle is about as confusing as that labyrinth out there."

Sarah was nearly shouting by the time she was done and Jareth was having trouble keeping a straight face.

~She is beautiful when she's angry~ he thought to himself. 

"Not to mention the fact that you've probably been watching me this entire time, knowing I was lost, and you didn't do anything. And now you're standing there grinning like the Cheshire cat!"

"Calm down, Sarah. Just follow me," Jareth said as he turned and started walking down the hallway. "And you're right, I was watching. But I thought I'd let you go for awhile more before I stepped in."

"So I'm just here for entertainment, is that it?" Sarah snapped. "Well let's get one thing straight Mister I've-got-an-oversized-ego, I am NOBODY'S entertainment. And if you insist on finding humor at my expense, then I can assure you will regret the day you brought Toby and I here."

Jareth turned around, anger flaring in his eyes.

"I'll have YOU know Miss I-have-to-have-everything-my-way that I am the king of this castle and I will do as I please, when I please. And I would appreciate it if you would remember that." Jareth turned and continued back down the hallway with Sarah close behind him.

"Well, isn't that just ironic. You of all people accusing me of having to have everything my way? I'll bet there isn't a day in your life that you haven't gotten what you wanted. In fact, I would even bet…" Sarah trailed off as she realized they had reached the dining room. Her mouth closed in silence as she took in the scene before her.

The dining room was immaculate. A giant chandelier hung from the ceiling. A wine red tablecloth lay over the table and white rose petals were covering the table, the floor, the chairs, everything. Candles had been placed in the center of the table and a glass of wine was in an ice bucket next to the table. Sarah's face started to turn red as the guilt from her anger flaring up started to hit.

"You… you did this for me?" Sarah asked quietly, not looking up at Jareth.

"Yes, I did. Please, come in and sit down."

Sarah crossed over to the table and Jareth pulled out her chair for her to sit down.

"Thank you," Sarah mumbled as she sat at her place at the table. She felt like a first class idiot now. ~Way to go Williams. Just shove those feet right down your throat.~

"I seem to have caught you by surprise, Sarah," Jareth said as he sat down.

"Well, it's just that you were yelling at me and now I find this and…" Sarah couldn't continue. She really wasn't sure what to say to him.

"And what?" Jareth asked.

"And, well, I guess…"

~Get with it, Sarah! Can't you form one coherent sentence?~

Jareth realized Sarah was having trouble getting her point across, and he sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest.

"Come now, Sarah. If I remember correctly, you're much more articulate than that. Obviously you want to say something."

"Well, actually, yes, I do want to say something," Sarah admitted. "But I really don't know how to say it."

But Sarah was saved from saying anything more. The door to the kitchen swung open and in walked a couple of the smarter goblins carrying trays of food. They sat the trays down in front of Sarah and Jareth and went back into the kitchen.

"Well, I'm sure whatever it is can wait. Why don't we eat?" Jareth said.

"That sounds like a marvelous idea," Sarah replied, her edginess from a moment ago fading away as she realized just how hungry she was. 

She removed the lid to her tray and was surprised at the aroma that filled her nose. Sarah looked at the food in front of her and was shocked that it actually looked appetizing! She also knew there was no way she could eat all of this! On the tray in front of her was a bowl of clam chowder, lobster, and salad. Jareth uncorked the bottle of champagne that was in the ice bucket next to him and poured some into a glass for Sarah and himself. 

"Umm, you're goblins can actually cook?" Sarah asked, still staring at the food in front of her.

"Yes," Jareth replied. "Thankfully, they're not all bumbling idiots."

Hesitantly, Sarah tasted the clam chowder. It was actually good! All of it was good, and the lobster was cooked to perfection. It was even better than some of the fancy seafood restaurants back home!

There wasn't much conversation during dinner, but when they did talk, it was relaxed and carefree. Sarah realized she must have been hungrier than she first thought, because when she glanced at her plate at one point, there was hardly anything left.

"I can't believe I've eaten this much," Sarah said. "If I take one more bite, I think I'll explode."

"Well, when was the last time you had eaten? If I remember correctly, you were coming here to eat lunch in the first place and I can guarantee that it is way past lunch hour. But I hope you're not too full. We still have dessert."

"More food? I don't think I could possibly eat anything more!"

At that moment, the door swung open and in walked the two goblins again. They once again sat the trays down and exited the room.

"Do I smell chocolate?" Sarah asked.

"Most likely," Jareth said as he took the lids off of both trays. On each tray was a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. There were only five on each plate, but it was okay because the strawberries weren't your average size.

"These strawberries are a bit big aren't they?" Sarah asked as she picked one up.

"Not really. Compared to the strawberries above ground, yes they're kind of large. But these are a bit on the small side for strawberries in the Underground."

Sarah was silent as they ate the strawberries. She thought back over the day and wondered how she was ever going to talk to him about what happened earlier. She knew things had happened fast after discovering what was inside that book. But how could she tell him to back off after everything he had done? He saved Toby, brought a doctor, and even made sure he was taken care of so that Sarah could join him for dinner. And then there was dinner itself. The clam chowder, the lobster, and now the chocolate covered strawberries. Sarah's thoughts stopped as a thought suddenly hit her. While she was training to be a nurse, the most tedious part had involved learning the dietary values of practically every food there was. She thought back over what she had eaten this evening. She knew there was something that connected them all, but she couldn't think of what it was.

Jareth noticed that Sarah was deep in thought. She had stopped with a strawberry halfway to her mouth. He wondered what could possibly be bothering Sarah, so he decided to step in and get her mind off of it.

"Sarah," he began, "would you care to dance?"

Sarah looked at him and couldn't help but remember the _last_ dance she had here. She wasn't sure if she wanted to relive the experience of everyone staring at her and, at times, laughing at her. This time, Jareth knew what she was thinking.

"I promise you it won't be like last time. No enchanted peaches and no gawking subjects. Just you and me."

Sarah agreed and suddenly found herself inside the crystal ballroom again. Only this time, there was nobody except for her and Jareth. The music started up and Sarah and Jareth started dancing. The one thing that did remain the same from last time, was Jareth's voice. Softly, he began singing as they danced.

__

Baby, please try to forgive me

Stay here, don't put out the glow

Hold me now don't bother

If every minute it makes me weaker

You can save me from the man that I've become

Looking back on the things I've done

I was trying to be someone

Played my part

Kept you in the dark

Now let me show you the shape of my heart

Sadness is beautiful

Loneliness is tragic also

Help me I can't win this war

Touch me now don't bother

If every second it makes me weaker

You can save me from the man I've become

Looking back on the things I've done

I was trying to be someone

Played my part

Kept you in the dark

Now let me show you the shape of my heart

I'm here with my confession

Got nothing to hide no more

I don't know where to start

But to show you the shape of my heart

Let me show you the shape of my heart

Sarah knew that she hadn't quite understood what was going on the first time she had been in this ballroom. But this time, there was no mistaking what was happening. Was it possible? Did Jareth really love her? Sarah stopped dancing and looked up at Jareth. The look in his eyes was hesitant, as if he was waiting for her to say something.

"I… I don't know what to say," Sarah said softly.

"Don't say anything then," Jareth said. He leaned his head towards and for the second time that day, kissed Sarah.

~I'm kissing him AGAIN. I thought I told myself I wasn't going to do this again?~ Sarah thought to herself. ~What is wrong with me?~ Suddenly, it hit her. The connection between everything at dinner. They were all… Sarah shoved away from Jareth.

"I can't believe I let myself fall for this. You had this planned from the beginning! Admit it!" Sarah yelled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jareth said as he transported them back to the dining room, his face clearly showing his surprise at Sarah's outburst.

"Dinner, the dance, the song, everything! You knew I would fall for it!"

"There was nothing to fall for."

"And I'm supposed to believe you after this?" Sarah yelled again.

"After what?" Jareth asked, not understanding at all what Sarah was trying to convey.

"It was all a ploy! You're just like the rest of the guys I know. You only have one thought running through your mind. I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out!"

"Figure what out?" Jareth was beginning to lose patience with Sarah. What was wrong with her?

"Dinner! It was all… all…"

"All what?!" he yelled. "I do wish you would just get on with it instead of ranting like a madwoman!"

"I can't believe you would pull this. I thought you had changed. I thought maybe things could be different. But no, you're just like them. The only thing you care about is getting me into your bed." 

Sarah turned and ran from the room. Too stunned to follow her, Jareth sank down into his chair.

"What is she talking about?" he said to himself. Then realization dawned on him. It wasn't entirely his fault this had happened. True, having Sarah in his bed wouldn't be a bad thing in the least, but that was certainly not his goal. At least not yet. He had only told his goblin chefs that Sarah would be joining him for dinner and that it was to be a romantic dinner. Leave to his goblins to make a dinner composed entirely of aphrodisiacs. Next time, he would have to be a bit more specific concerning what he wanted. Now, he would have to go find Sarah.

__________

Sarah ran into her room and slammed the door shut. She collapsed on her bed and let the emotions from the past few days engulf her. She buried her face in her pillow as uncontrollable sobs racked her body. Sarah didn't notice when the door opened and she also didn't notice the person approaching her bed.

"Sarah?" a small voice asked. "What's wrong?"

Sarah lifted her head and wiped her eyes before turning to look at the person in her room.

"Toby? What are doing up?"

"I was tired of laying around and the funny looking guy in my room fell asleep," Toby said. "Then I heard your door slam, and even though I don't remember you, you said you were my sister, so I thought I'd come and see if you were okay."

Sarah pulled Toby up onto her bed and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you, Toby," Sarah said, wiping the last few tears from her eyes. "That means a lot to me."

"Well, I also had a question to ask you," Toby said as he pulled away from Sarah and looked up into her face.

"What is it?"

"We're not from here, are we?"

"No, Toby, we're not. This is a place called the Underground. We're from Aboveground and live in a place called New York," Sarah explained. "Why?"

"I was just wondering. Even thought I don't remember anything, I just had a feeling that this wasn't home," Toby said, pausing before he asked another question. "Do… do you think my memory would come back sooner if I was at home?"

Sarah seemed startled at this question. She hadn't even considered that thought before. Although it would make more sense. It probably would be easier for Toby to remember if he was at home, surrounded by familiar things.

"I guess I hadn't really thought of that," Sarah answered. "But I guess it probably would help. The only thing here that would be familiar to you is me. I'll tell you what, first thing tomorrow morning, I'll talk to Jareth and tell him that we need to go home."

Neither of them noticed that Jareth was standing in the doorway and had heard the entire conversation. So when he spoke to them, they both jumped.

"It doesn't need to wait until morning," he said as he walked into the room. "I overheard what the two of you were saying. If you both really wish to go home, I will send you back."

"Would you?" Sarah asked. "I would have expected you to do everything in your power to keep us from going back."

"Yes, well, as I told you once before, I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations of me."

"Can we go tonight? I think it would be best for both Toby and myself if we were to leave as soon as possible," Sarah said, trying to ignore the statement Jareth had just made.

"If it is what you wish, then yes, I will send you home right now," Jareth said as he formed a crystal in his hand. "Just grab your brother's hand and then take the crystal. The moment your hand closes over it, you will be home."

Sarah grabbed Toby's hand and hesitantly reached for the crystal. The hesitation was not lost on Jareth. He saw the hesitation and wondered if there still might be hope. But a moment later, Sarah's hand closed around the crystal and her and Toby were gone.


	3. Here comes Trouble

Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing

Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing. I take that back, I own Scott. He's mine and you can't have him. :o) I think we all know who everything else belongs to, so let's just get on with it.

Flames – Part 3

"Wow, that was cool," Toby said as they appeared in the living room of Sarah's apartment. "Can we do that again?"

"No," Sarah said as fell down on the couch. "I suggest you go to bed."

"But Sarah, it's not dark yet!" Toby said.

Sarah smiled. Lost memory or not, he was still Toby. Sarah glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was only 1:00 in the afternoon.

~What in the world?~ she thought. ~There's no way! I just ate dinner with Jareth and it was much later than this.~

"Okay, I guess you don't have to go to bed then. Just don't push yourself," Sarah said. "If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen."

Toby turned on the television and Sarah wandered into the kitchen. The light on her answering was blinking and she hit the "play" button while she made some coffee.

"Hello, my name is Abigail Stevens and I'm calling from North Park Elementary. Our records indicate that Toby has not been in attendance this past week. If you would please call the school at 555-8900 to clear this matter up, I would greatly appreciate it."

Sarah hit the stop button on the machine. A week? Toby hadn't been in school for a week? What was going on?

__________

Scott Thomas was sitting at his office desk trying to finish up so he could go home for the day. There was a knock at his door and his boss came walking in.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Wilson!" Scott said as he stood from his desk. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Hello, Scott. I have a new case for you."

Scott sighed. It wasn't that he didn't like his work with Social Services, but sometimes it just got so tedious.

"What are the details?" he asked. "Single parent? Abuse?"

"Well, we're actually not sure of all the details," Mrs. Wilson said. "All we know is that the young boy's parents died a couple weeks ago. His sister now has full custody, but since that time, he hasn't been at school and his sister hasn't been at work. Neighbor's say they haven't come out of the apartment since the day of the funeral and the mail is piled up. They did hear them yesterday, so we know they're both still in there. We're just concerned that the child isn't getting everything he needs."

"I'm on it," Scott said.

"Great. Here's the file. Let's see what we can do."

Mrs. Wilson left Scott's office and he opened the file she handed him and read over what information they had.

Toby Andrew Williams, age 10. Parents deceased, living with sister Sarah Marie Williams, age 26. Both reside at 586 Sycamore St., apt. 3B. Toby has not been in school for the past week and a half and Sarah has not shown at work. Foster home may have to be an option.

Scott sighed as he read over the paper. He could tell this wasn't going to be an easy case. Toby's parents had just died, and now they were suggesting a possible foster home if Sarah wasn't fit to raise him. He would get on this first thing in the morning, but right now, he was going home.

__________

Sarah couldn't believe this. She had never stopped to think about the time difference between here and the Underground. Obviously, time moved slower there than it did here. How much time had passed since her and Toby had left? Sarah opened the door to her apartment and looked in her mailbox. Well, she really didn't have to look in. There was so much in there that her mailbox wouldn't even shut. She grabbed the mail and sat down at the kitchen table with it.

~Bill. Bill. Letter from work. Bill. Letter from Toby's school. Bill. Bill.~ Sarah sighed as she sorted through everything. Setting aside the bills, she picked up the letter from Toby's school and read.

_Dear Miss Williams,_

We realize that in light of the recent passing of your parents, Toby would have missed a couple days of school. However, the funeral was two weeks ago, and Toby has not yet been back at school. We have left messages on your answering machine that have not yet been returned.

We are concerned about this matter. If this is not taken care of and Toby does not return to school, we will have no choice but to contact social services and inform them of what is going on. Please call the school at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Abigail Stevens

Two weeks? Her and Toby had been gone for two weeks? Sarah's hands started shaking as she looked at the letter from the school. She glanced at the unopened letter from the hospital. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach that the contents of the letter would not be happy. If this is how the school reacted, how would work react with her not showing up for two weeks and for not calling in? Slowly, Sarah opened the letter and read it.

_Miss Williams,_

It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter to you. Over the past two years, you have been an incredible addition to the staff. You're personality and humor have been warmly welcome. We realize that you parents have recently passed away and that you did in fact need a couple days off. However, you have not been at work for the past two weeks, and you didn't call and let us know and that left us understaffed during some of our most critical times.

Unfortunately, we cannot tolerate this irresponsibility in our nurses. Due to your continued absence and lack of communication, I regret to inform you that you are being released from your duties at the hospital. If there were a way to keep you on staff, we would take that route. However at this time, termination of employment is the only option. Your final check will be mailed to you at the end of the month.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mike Watson

Chief of Staff

With trembling hands, Sarah laid the letter down on the table. Fired. She had been fired. Anger welled up inside Sarah. This was all Jareth's fault. If she found out the he knew about the time difference, she would kill him. She knew there was only one way to find out if he knew about the time, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to see him or not. But it wasn't like she had a choice.

"Toby, I'll be in my room, okay?" Sarah yelled into the living room.

"Okay!" Toby answered.

Sarah walked down the hallway to her room and shut the door behind her. She sat down in front of her vanity mirror and took a deep breath.

"Jareth! I need to talk to you!"

"And what exactly did you want to talk to me about?" a voice said from behind her.

Sarah turned and saw Jareth lying on her bed. She thought back to dinner and couldn't help but think that she had been right. After all, he did show up on her bed.

"Do you think you could get off my bed?" Sarah asked.

Jareth realized how it must look to Sarah after the accusation about dinner, so he stood from the bed and went and leaned against the window.

"Thank you," Sarah said.

"You're welcome. Now what did you wish to see me about?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could explain to me about the time difference between here and the Underground."

Jareth's face went pale as he realized what had happened. He had completely forgotten about how time ran up here as opposed to down there.

"You knew, didn't you?" Sarah asked. "How could you do this to me? To Toby? What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking, and for that I apologize," Jareth said. "I wasn't thinking about the difference in time."

"Do you even realize what has happened?" Sarah said, her voice raising with every word. "Toby has missed two weeks of school and the school is threatening to call Social Services. They can't do that! They can't!"  


Sarah collapsed onto her bed, her body shaking with sobs. She couldn't let them take Toby. She wouldn't let them. Jareth walked over and sat on the edge of bed. Sarah felt the bed sink when he sat down and she turned to look at him.

"I can't do this, Jareth," she said between sobs. "I can't lose him to a foster family. He's the only family I have left! But I can't even support him now because I lost my job at the hospital. What am I going to do?"

Jareth pulled Sarah to him and wrapped his arms around her. To his surprise, she didn't pull away. He sat there holding her until he crying had stopped and then looked at her.

"I truly am sorry for everything that happened, Sarah. And I promise you, I will die before I let them take Toby from you," he said softly. "But right now, you need to rest. I'll go out and keep an eye on Toby."

Sarah curled up and laid her head on her pillow. Jareth waved his hand over her and she was soon asleep. He then walked out into the hallway to find Toby. It wasn't hard to find him since the apartment wasn't exactly what you would call big. He looked into the living room and saw Toby asleep on the couch. Jareth decided to just leave him there and walked into the kitchen.

Jareth was surprised at the pile of mail on the table in the kitchen. He didn't think Sarah would mind a little bit of help, so he sat down and started sorting through her bills. He opened each one and read the amount. Using his magic, the money needed to cover the bills and any late fees were deposited where needed. He figured it was the least he could do to help her out.

With the bills taken care of, there wasn't much more for him to do. He stood up from the table and then noticed an envelope lying by the door. He walked over and picked it up.

~State of New York Department of Social Services~ Jareth read. ~This must've fallen when Sarah brought in the rest of the mail.~

Sitting back down at the table, Jareth opened the envelope and began reading the letter.

_To: Miss Sarah Marie Williams_

From: New York Department of Social Services

Miss Williams,

It has been brought to our attention that you have recently become the guardian of Toby Andrew Williams. We realize that you are legally of age to be his legal guardian, but recent events have caused us to doubt your ability to support your brother.

In the two weeks that you have had custody, Toby has not been in attendance at school. We also contacted your place of employment and they informed us that, due to lack of communication and not notifying them that you would not be at work, your employment with them was terminated.

Miss Williams, we believe it to be in the best interest of young Toby that a social service representative come once a week to check on you. One of our representatives will be contacting shortly regarding the information discussed in this letter. If improvements are not made or anything is found to prove that you cannot support Toby, he will be taken from your custody and placed into a foster home.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Anita Wilson

Director

Jareth sat the letter on the table. He was debating waking Sarah up to inform her of the letter, but knew that with her emotions in the state they were in now, she might very well murder him for reading the letter. He decided to just reseal the envelope and act as though he knew nothing. Things were going to bad enough for her as it was. Toby currently had no memory. Sarah was in great danger of losing the only family she had left.

__________

Sarah woke up and looked at her clock. It was six o'clock in the evening. She couldn't believe she had slept that long. She got out of bed and headed down the hallway to find Toby. She looked in the living room, but he wasn't there. Trying not to panic, Sarah headed to the kitchen hoping Toby was there. She found Toby and noticed that Jareth was also still here.

"Decided to join the land of the living?" Jareth asked as he saw her enter the kitchen.

"Yeah," Sarah asked, her voice still somewhat groggy from sleeping. "I can't believe I slept that long."

"Well, part of that would be my fault. I put a spell on you so you would sleep easier."

"Oh," Sarah said, coming into the kitchen and pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"You're not mad at me?" Jareth asked. He figured Sarah would want to spit nails after finding out he put a sleeping spell on her.

"No. Truthfully, I'm glad you did. I needed the rest."

"Sarah, I'm hungry," Toby said. Sarah looked down in surprise. She had completely forgotten that he was even in here. "Can we go get some food?"

"Uh, sure," Sarah said. "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know," Toby said. "I don't remember what I like."

Toby looked down at the table, trying hard not to let the tears come. He hated not remembering anything and he knew it wasn't making things easier on anyone. Sarah noticed this and sat down next to her brother.

"Well, your favorite restaurant is Tony's," Sarah said as she ran her hand through Toby's hair. "I remember when you were first learning to read, you thought it said 'Toby's' and decided from then on that it was your restaurant. Do you want to go there?"

"Yeah, let's go there," Toby said. "Is Jareth coming with us?"

Sarah looked up at Jareth, her eyes pleading for him to come.

"Sure, I'll come," he answered. "But I think it would be best if I put on more appropriate attire." With a wave of his hand, Jareth was clothed in blue jeans and t-shirt and actually looked normal. Sarah ran back to her room, grabbed her purse, and the three of them headed out the door.

They arrived at Tony's and were seated in a booth at the back. Their waitress came and took their drink order and left them to look over the menu.

"Sarah?" Toby asked after a couple moments of silence. "Can I get the kids spaghetti dinner?"

Sarah's mouth fell open as she looked at Toby. She tried to control her voice when she replied.

"You're absolutely sure that's what you want?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because that's what you order every time we come here," Sarah told him. Jareth's eyebrows raised as he realized what was going on. "Did you remember that?"

"I don't know," Toby said. "All I know is I was looking at the menu and that was the only thing I could focus on. No matter what else I looked at, I just kept coming back to that."

"Maybe you're starting to remember," Jareth said. "This could be an indication that you're memory is on it's way back."

"An indi-what?" Toby asked.

"A sign," said Sarah.

"Oh. But can I get that?"

"Of course you can," Sarah said. The three of them looked over the menu's for a couple more minutes and then the waitress came back with their drinks. They placed their orders and the waitress took the menu's and left.

"Does anything else look familiar to you?" Jareth asked.

"Mom! It's Toby!" someone yelled from across the room. "Can I go say hi, please?"

A moment later, a dark haired boy was standing at their table.

"Hey Toby. Where've ya been? I haven't seen you at school."

Sarah looked up at Jareth, panic in her eyes. Toby couldn't tell where they had actually been. They would think he was crazy. Quickly, she spoke up before Toby could say anything.

"Hi there Peter," Sarah said. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Peter answered. "Mom's been worried about you guys, especially when she found out that Toby hasn't been in school. Where has he been anyway?"

"Well, Toby hasn't really been himself lately," Sarah said. "I didn't want to push him to hard after what happened, so I've been staying with him at home. Hopefully he'll be back in school soon."

Just then, Peter's mom came up to the table.

"Hello, Sarah. How are you?"

"I'm doing good Mrs. Anderson. Thank you for asking," Sarah replied. It was almost too much for Sarah too handle. Karen and Mrs. Anderson had always gotten along well, so seeing her was a reminder to Sarah of how much she had lost. Mrs. Anderson then saw Jareth and turned towards him.

"Hi there. I'm Mrs. Anderson, Peter's mother. I don't believe we have met."

"This is uh… my friend Jay," Sarah said quickly as Jareth reached out to shake Mrs. Anderson's hand. "He's a friend from school and came down after he heard about what happened."

"How nice of you," Mrs. Anderson said. "You must think a lot of Sarah and her brother."

"More than they could ever know," Jareth said, glancing at Sarah out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, it looks like our food is arriving at our table. We best be going before it gets cold. Come along, Peter."

Mrs. Anderson and Peter walked back to their table and Toby turned to Sarah with questions in his eyes.

"Who was that?"

"That was Peter. He's your best friend," Sarah replied.

"Oh. And why were talking about me like I wasn't here?" Toby asked.

Sarah looked at Jareth. This wasn't going to be easy. Toby didn't remember his parents, and now he would have to find out that he would never get a chance to meet them.

"I wasn't talking about you, Toby. But this is a conversation that needs to wait until we get home, okay?"

Toby resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't find out anything more from Sarah at the moment. But that was okay because a few minutes later, they're food arrived and they spent the rest of the meal in silence. Jareth watched them the entire time knowing that the conversation tonight wouldn't be an easy one and wishing will all his strength that there was something he could do to prevent that pain that was sure to come.

__________

Sarah opened the door to her apartment and held it open for Jareth, who was carrying Toby. He had fallen asleep in the car on the way home and she didn't have the heart to wake him up. Jareth carried Toby down to his room and laid Toby down on his bed. Sarah took his shoes off of him and pulled the covers up around room. Silently, she closed the door and walked down to the kitchen. Jareth had already walked down and had coffee waiting for Sarah. She knew he had made it with his magic because there was no way he could've had it made already and she was pretty sure he wouldn't have known what to do anyway.

"Well, it looks like the talk with Toby has at least been delayed another day," Jareth said as he and Sarah sat down at the kitchen table.

"Yeah," Sara said. "I must say that part of me is glad. It'll give me more time to actually think about what I'm going to say to him. It's still not going to be easy, but at least now I can think it through."

"I agree," Jareth stated. "However, I do believe that you and I need to talk."

Sarah looked down at her mug. She knew he wanted to talk about dinner at the palace, but Sarah didn't want to talk about it. She was still a bit angry at him over the whole thing and the last thing she needed right now was to get into another argument with him.

"There's really nothing to say. We both know that I'm upset over what happened," Sarah stated.

"I know you're upset, but I still think you need to hear me out," Jareth said.

"Fine. Talk. I'm listening."

"Very well. I must admit, I was a bit shocked at your outburst during dinner. I couldn't for the life of me figure what had happened to make you so angry," Jareth began. "It was only after you left the dining room and I sat down that I realized what had made you upset."

"Right," Sarah said, looking up at him with disbelief in her eyes. "I'm supposed to believe that you had no clue that I had a plate full of foods that are known aphrodisiacs? Give me a break."

"Sarah, you have to believe me," Jareth said. "I would never to do anything to intentionally harm you, I think you should know that by now. When I realized what my goblin chefs had done, I went to find you. I was going to explain everything then, but that's when you decided that it would be best for you and Toby to return here."

"So you seriously had nothing to do with dinner?" Sarah asked.

"I swear to you on everything I own, I had nothing to do with dinner."

"Then what happened?" Sarah asked.

"Well, I told them to prepare a meal fit for a queen," Jareth said. "I should've known that they would at least know that queens are married to kings and therefore would share the same bed. I guess they were just trying to help out."

"Well then, I am sorry for jumping to conclusions," Sarah said. "But you have to admit that I really didn't have a reason not to believe you had something to do with that."

"You never learn do you?" Jareth asked.

"Learn what?" Sarah asked.

"Never mind," Jareth said. "I have an idea though. What do you say we just start over. We can pretend the whole dinner fiasco never happened."

"Deal," Sarah said. She got up from the table and headed towards the living room. Before she left the kitchen, she turned back around. "Just wondering, how long do you think it will last?"

"How long will what last?" Jareth asked as he also stood up from the table.

"Us getting along. It's only a matter of time 'til one of us says or does something to set the other one off."

"Who knows. But let's not worry about that right now."

Sarah walked into the living room, sat on the couch and turned on the television. Jareth followed and sat down next to her. In no time at all, both of them were sound asleep.

__________

Sarah awoke the next morning to the phone ringing and reached for the phone next to the couch.

"Hello?" she said, trying to sound alert.

"Hi. My name is Scott Thomas. Is this Sarah Williams?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Yes, this is she. May I help you?"

"I'm calling from the Social Services department concerning Toby Williams," Scott said. "I've been assigned to the case and I'm wanting to set up a time to come over and meet with you."

"What case?" Sarah asked.

"A letter was sent out a couple days ago informing you that because of Toby's continued absence from school and the loss of your job, social services was being called to make sure everything stayed in order."

"I'm afraid I haven't seen the letter," Sarah said. "Although I did receive a letter from the school expressing their concern. But I think it is rather unnecessary for social services to be involved in what is strictly a family problem."

"Yes, I realize that your parents have recently just passed away," Scott said, "but two weeks is a bit long for a child to be out of school, especially without notification. So I would appreciate it if you could make some time for me to meet with you."

"Okay fine. Um, do you want to come over around one o'clock this afternoon?"

"Sounds fine. I'll see you then. Bye."

Sarah hung the phone and closed her eyes to go back to sleep. Her eyes flew back open as she realized that she wasn't in her bed and she wasn't alone either. She was lying on the couch and there was someone laying there with her. Sarah turned her head and screamed when she saw Jareth sleeping next to her on the couch.

"Ahhh! What are you doing?" Sarah screamed. Jareth woke up and sat straight up.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Sarah, are you okay? Why are you screaming?"

"I'm screaming because I woke up and found you sleeping next to me! What do you think you were doing? What if Toby had come out here and saw you there?"

"I guess I fell asleep and didn't realize it," Jareth said as he got off the couch.

"So we didn't…" Sarah trailed off, not wanting to finish her question.

"Not to my knowledge," Jareth said. ~And that's one thing I would _never_ forget.~ he added to himself.

"Good," Sarah said with a sigh of relief. "I hate to do this, but you're going to have to leave now. A guy from social services is coming at one and I have a lot of work to do. I have to convince him that I can take care of Toby."

"Why don't I stay for just awhile," Jareth suggested. "Cleaning this place with magic would be a lot faster."

Sarah had to agree with him on that. 

"Okay, that's fine. But I have some bills I need to sort through. That I have to do," Sarah said as she headed towards the kitchen.

"Actually that's already taken care of," Jareth called after her. "I took care of that yesterday while you were sleeping."

"How?" Sarah asked. "You don't have access to my bank account."

"I just looked at the amount on each bill and sent the money wherever it needed to go."

"You did what?" Sarah asked, shock registering on her face.

"I took care of it while you were sleeping," Jareth stated.

Sarah was silent. There wasn't really anything for her to say. She stood there for a moment trying to decide what to say. What could she say?

"Um, okay. Thanks," Sarah said. "Well, since I guess there's nothing left for me to do out here, I'm going to go take a shower. If Toby wakes up, tell him just to sit tight and I'll be out shortly."

Sarah turned and walked to the bathroom and Jareth watched her go, muttering to himself as she walked away.

"If you need any help, I would be more than happy to assist you."

__________

Sarah emerged from her bedroom thirty minutes later. Her hair was still wet and was hanging down her back. She had pulled on a pair of jeans and one of her nicer shirts so that she wouldn't have to worry about changing before the social services worker got there. When she walked into the kitchen, the smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes hit her nose. She stopped in mid-stride and couldn't believe what she saw. Standing by the stove was Jareth and sitting at the table was Toby, happily eating breakfast.

"What in the world is going on?" Sarah asked.

"Jareth can cook!" Toby said. "These pancakes are really good. He even brought peaches for them! You should try some!"

Sarah sat down at the table and stared at the plate that Jareth sat down in front of her.

"Don't worry, Sarah," Jareth said. "The peaches are safe."

"I'm not sure if it's the peaches I'm worried about," Sarah said. "I think I'm mostly worried about the fact that you can cook."  


"I can't cook," Jareth stated. "It's the magic."

"But you're standing over the stove," Sarah pointed out.

"All for appearances. Believe me, you wouldn't be in this room right now if I had actually tried to cook."

Gathering up all the nerve she had, Sarah took a bit of the food in front of her. She had to admit, it was pretty good. 

"Hey Sarah, are you going to finish the conversation from last night?" Toby asked.

"What conversation?"

"When I thought you were talking about me but you said you weren't."

"Oh, that conversation," Sarah said, her voice becoming softer. "Toby, why don't we go into the living room, okay?"

Toby and Sarah walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Jareth followed behind and sat in the chair. He wasn't sure if Sarah wanted him in there or not, but he knew this wasn't going to be easy so he decided to be there in case he was needed.

"The truth is Toby, I was talking about our parents at Tony's last night," Sarah began. "I know you don't remember this, but before we went to Jareth's place, something bad happened. That's why you were at my house to begin with."

Toby didn't like the sound of Sarah's voice. True, he didn't remember anything about her, but he knew that whatever she was going to say wasn't going to be good.

"What happened?" Toby asked.

"Well, there was a fire. You had gone to stay all night with Peter," Sarah said.

"The kid from the restaurant, right?" Toby asked.

"Right. So you were there and I was sitting right on that chair looking out the window. I heard the sirens going off and since I was bored, I decided to follow them. They went to Mom and Dad's house." Sarah stopped talking as the events from that night started replaying in her mind.

_"You'll need to stand back, Miss," the officer said. "Give them room to work."_

"You don't understand," Sarah said fighting back tears. "This is my parents home."

The police officer looked at her sadly. Sarah saw the look in his eyes. 

"What?" Sarah asked. "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"They just wheeled your parents out of the house a moment ago. It appears they were asleep when the fire started and didn't get out in time. I'm sorry."

Toby shook Sarah to try and get her out of her trance.

"Sarah? What happened?" he asked, his eyes wide with concern.

"Mom and Dad were asleep when the fire started. The police think the fire alarm failed to go off. Mom and Dad didn't make it out of the house in time," Sarah said, looking at Toby to see if he understood.

"They died?" Toby asked, tears starting to form in his eyes. Sarah eyes started tearing up as well.

"Yes, they did," Sarah said softly, the tears she was trying desperately to hold back falling freely down her face.

"I don't even remember them," Toby said, tears starting to fall down his face as well.

"I know you don't. But remember this, they loved you very much and want you to be happy."

"But I'll never get to meet them!" Toby said. "I don't remember them and now I'll never get to see them again!" Toby was crying freely now, the pain of losing the parents he didn't remember hitting him full force.

Sarah wrapped her arms around Toby and pulled him to her. Brother and sister clung to each other and cried the tears that Sarah thought were long gone. Across the room, a tear slipped unnoticed down the cheek of the King sitting in the chair.

__________


End file.
